ΧΑΟΣ

I don’t know if you knew this about me, but I’ll buy a book every now and then. Because I am not a crazy person (anyway, I’ve never been officially diagnosed), before I’ll buy a book I see if I already own it in some form.

My books are organized according to a principle I call chunking and what others call not organized. If I’m looking for a Leiber book, I know I have a chunk of them there, and another chunk over there and a third chunk in another place.

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Posted in art, books, Chaos, fantasy, fantasy art, Keep it or chuck it?, Minnestoics, music, Myth & Legend, politics, review or meta-review, sff, sword-and-sorcery, werewolves | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Extruded Word Product

I guess I understand that replacing writing with “automated insight extraction” makes sense from a managerial point of view. I just can’t see how it makes sense from any other point of view (e.g., someone who might have to read the junk that chatbots generate).

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/my-ai-writing-robot

screenshot of the New Yorker article, “MY A.I. Writing Robot”
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Napoleon, Simoleon

ME: I wish people would make movies that aren’t based on comic books.

RIDLEY SCOTT: [makes sweeping romantic saga about the inventor of the police state]

ME: Not like that!

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Words to Live By

“When you’re cooking lentils, don’t add perfume” (ὅταν φακῆν ἕψετε μὴ ‘πιχεῖν μύρον).

–Strattis Comicus (whoever he was)

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Cattus Latinus Snoozicus

I’m rereading Ovid’s Metamorphoses again this summer, which always reminds me of my son’s late-but-great cat Lewis the Explorer. This picture from seven years ago may suggest why.

photo: a white cat rests peacefully on the left hand of a man trying to read Ovid's METAMORPHOSES.
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Not Feeling SANQUINE About This

Yet another Faceplace ad that falls between sad and funny. I’m pretty sure the Latin on this very serious “blood oath” coin is supposed to mean “what is owed in blood” (quod debitum sanguine) only they misspelled “blood” as SANQUINE, which doesn’t seem to mean anything.

Everything Is Better With Latin!™ (but not dog-Latin; that’s just sad)

Facebook ad for a "blood oath marker" with misspelled Latin on it
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Latin Makes Your Teeth Shiny White!

I had occasion to use the word vademecum today, which doesn’t happen that often, but whenever it does I’m reminded of Vademecum toothpaste, which my mom used to use. This may be the first piece of Latin I ever learned (unless some of the pre-Vatican-II Latin mass stuck in my brain, which I guess is not impossible).

screenshot ffrom an old Vademecum commercial
https://www.oddballfilms.com/clip/13160_13270_vademecum

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Missed Opportunities

I’ve always liked C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. But I’m baffled by how many screen adaptations they’ve received, and now they’re slated to get another one via Netflix.

At this rate we’ll never get a theme-park thrillride based on Till We Have Faces or The Discarded Image.

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Explode For Entertainment Purposes Only!

Happy Independence Day to my compatriots; happy Tuesday to all.

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Words to Live By

“One prefers, of course, on all occasions to be stainless and above reproach but, failing that, the next best thing is unquestionably to have got rid of the body.”

—Wodehouse, JOY IN THE MORNING
cover of "Jeeves in the Morning", an American re-issue of "Joy in the Morning"

image depicts various cartoon figures around the exterior of a country cottage: a bobby sneaking around the corner at left, Jeeves fishing in the center, a love triangle triangling, Bertie Wooster joyously kicking a Boy Scout
cover of the 1990 Perennial Library edition
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